Skipping rope, also known as jumping rope, is an exercise that can be practiced with simple and inexpensive equipment, for example a rope with handles at either end. Skipping can be done by a single individual or by several people. One or more persons can skip together within the arc of a single rope, swung by one or two others.
Two ropes may be swung simultaneously, as in the game of "Double Dutch." The two are swung in counter-rotating senses and 180 degrees out of phase, so that the skipping frequency is double that of the swinging (revolving) frequency of either rope. Typically one person swings two free ends of the skipping roper while another holds the opposite ends stationary. Double Dutch requires skill both for rope swingers and skippers. Skippers need skill especially for entering and exiting the space circumscribed by the double swinging ropes. Entering is known as "calling in."
For use with one hand by a single user, or for use with one skipping user and one rope-swinging user, it is possible to attach one end of a skipping rope to a handle and the other end to a wall. These attachments are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,736,945 to Vinciguera and 3,411,775 to Delk, Jr.
The prior art does not disclose the use of such single-ended rope attachments for use with Double Dutch or the like complex skipping exercises. Despite the great popularity of such exercises, the prior art has failed to provide any apparatus adapted to them, or enabling such exercises to be augmented or modified.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,612,522 to Ekonen, 5,167,599 to Haller, and 3,263,995 to Morrow, all show skip ropes attached to posts. Morrow shows in FIG. 5 a ring 33 attached to a post 29.
Height adjustments for single-handed skipping ropes are shown in the Haller patent in FIG. 3. U.S. Pat. No. 3,595,571 to Spinnett also shows adjustable height pedestals (in FIG. 1).
Several prior-art patents disclose swiveling rope attachments or bearings (eg., U.S. Pat. Nos. 554,992; 3,612,522; and 3,263,995). U.S. Pat. No. 4,637,606 to Hunn shows a swiveling snap-ring connector 5 used to attach a skip rope.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,241,832 to Miller shows a rotary skipping device with revolving jump bars 34 radiating from a hub. The bars 34 are revolved in a plane. No flaccid line or skip rope is disclosed by Miller. The bars 34 do not rotate about horizontal axes; instead, they revolve about a common vertical axis.
No pattern of skipping ropes is seen in the prior art, and nothing that could organize a plurality of rope skippers either for joint skipping, rope-to-rope skipping, or for enabling a large number of rope skippers to simultaneously use a restricted area.
The prior art does not teach any attachment of a skipping rope to a pole in a manner which utilizes the space around the pole efficiently. In those portions of the prior art that attach a rope to a pole, the pole could be replaced by a wall (or other rope end support) without affecting the use of the prior-art devices.